Cops continue to battle downtown crime, cups or no cups

For years, downtown residents have complained that the police were not visible enough.

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To-go cups: to ban or not to ban? (July 29, 2001).

With the recent to-go cup controversy, that same complaint has resurfaced, with some calling for the creation of new laws and others calling for the enforcement of existing ones.

Opponents of to-go cups claim that the presence of alcohol outside bars and clubs contributes to various violations from littering to public drunkenness to public urination.

But proponents of the cups say that's not the case, and instead those same violations will occur with or without to-go cups.

"It seems pretty obvious to me where people drink doesn't make any difference," said David Stachel, a manager at Wet Willie's. "There's plenty of laws to enforce, and they're not being enforced."

But Lt. Dana Brown, who works in Precinct 1, which includes River Street and City Market, said the problems with enforcement of some of those city ordinances is the way the state law is written.

"In order for us to enforce something like that, we have to see it," Brown said of offenses like public urination and littering.

For any misdemeanor or city ordinance violations, the officer must actually witness the misconduct. Otherwise, their hands are tied.

Although that's a difficult part of the job for officers downtown, Brown said Precinct 1 has made extra efforts to compensate.

A walking beat with three officers was created about six months ago. The officers work Tuesday through Saturday from the evening into the early morning hours, Brown said.

"Their main assignment is to deter any violent crime in the northwest section of downtown," he said.

That section stretches from Liberty Street to River Street and from Bull Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Officer Michael Wagner, who's been on the Savannah Historic Officer Walking unit since May, said he enjoys his job. Although he focuses on violent crime, he also catches people littering and urinating in public.

"We know exactly where to look with that kind of thing," Wagner said.

In an average month, the walking unit makes 30 arrests for misdemeanors and felonies, as well as writing dozens of citations for city ordinance violations.

The SHOW unit officers walk between five and 10 miles a night, Wagner said.

Since the creation of the walking units, robberies have been reduced, as well as calls for service in the downtown area, he said.